Quote:
Originally Posted by Aylmer
Actually, the Alexandra bridge was built with and for three decks - they weren't add-ons. I think that the weight of the buses would be too much to add onto a bridge which wasn't conceived for it. A bike path, however, would be more plausible.
The fact that it's pretty far from downtown makes it a less-than-ideal connection for Gatineau residents: the two options are transfers or split frequency and neither of them is very good. It could, however, replace the rush-hour 200 bus to Ottawa, but anything outside of that (not rush-hour) is impractical.
It could be valuable for south or west-Ottawa residents making their way to downtown Hull with an O-Train connection. For Gatineau, for it to be both practical and politically possible, any rapid transit lines would have to pass through Hull first and foremost which means that we would need transit priority on downtown bridges. |
A converted Prince of Wales Bridge would be more for connections to and from destinations that do not include downtown Ottawa, especially to the south and west.
Although it requires a fair amount of work, it could probably be done fairly quickly as there is no need to schedule around an existing transit schedule means they can work 24/7 on the project so it might be doable in one construction season. Only once will they need to close the Trillium Line, and that would be probably only for one weekend to connect the extension to the existing line at Bayview.
The work required:
* Refurbish the bridges, with seismic upgrades and structural improvements (if necessary which I think they are)
* Convert the track to continuously welded rail to maintain the same standards as the existing line
* Construct a passing track on Lemieux Island (the only place to fit it)
* Renovate the warehouse at Eddy/Tache (whichever is chosen) to construct a new station